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<a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/pertierra08282009.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/pertierra08282009.html<br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">August 28-30,
2009<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>The Right to
Make Money is More Important Than the Right to Know <br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">A
Decision in the Posada Case
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By JOSÉ
PERTIERRA <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">A</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2> federal district court in El Paso, Texas,
accepted many of the Government’s arguments, not allowing certain
evidence in the case of Luis Posada Carriles to be made public.
Posada is scheduled for trial on perjury charges in March of
2010.<br><br>
The Judge imposed a protective order on part of the evidence that will be
used at trial. Specifically, Judge Kathleen Cardone ordered a
protective seal around tapes and transcriptions that journalist Ann
Louise Bardach made in the course of interviewing Posada Carriles in 1998
concerning terrorist actions that he masterminded the previous
year.<br><br>
The judge’s decision, is incredibly, and based on the journalist’s right
to “sell her material and she is entitled to the proceeds of that
sale.” The Court concluded that “Ms. Bardach should not . . . lose
control over that material.”<br><br>
The economic interests of a journalist to sell her tape recordings, or a
book based on those recordings, ought not take precedence over the
public’s right to know, as well as the rights of the families affected by
the terrorist acts to review the evidence. This decision is a sad
reflection of what is truly most important in this society:
business above all else.<br><br>
Fabio DiCelmo, the young Italian that Posada brutally murdered in Havana
on September 4, 1997, left behind a family that grieves his
absence: Giustino and Ora, his parents, as well as Livio his
brother. They, and also the public, ought not have to await the
publication of a book that they would subsequently have to purchase in
order to review the taped interviews of Posada Carriles.<br><br>
During all of the legal vicissitudes that we will come across in the
coming months relating to the trial of Posada Carriles in El Paso, we
must not lose sight that the terrorist has 73 counts of first degree
murder pending in Caracas in relation to the downing of a passenger
plane.<br><br>
The charges that are pending against Posada in Caracas are much more
serious than those pending in El Paso. Perjury is a poor substitute
for 73 counts of first degree murder, and a murder prosecution ought take
precedence.<br><br>
The Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Illicit Acts for the
Protection of Civil Aviation, signed in Montreal in 1971, obligates
Washington to try Posada in the United States for 73 counts of first
degree murder, if it decides not to extradite him.<br><br>
Posada Carriles is an international fugitive from justice. He fled
from a Venezuelan prison to escape justice. If it does not
extradite him to Venezuela, the United States is legally obligated to
prosecute him for the downing of the plane. Why doesn’t Washington
abide by its obligations under international law? This is the heart
of the matter. <br><br>
<b>José Pertierra</b> represents the government of Venezuela in the
extradition case against Luis Posada Carriles.<br><br>
<br><br>
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<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
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